North Wales Crusaders claimed an opening Championship day victory over Barrow Raiders on Sunday despite playing for half an hour with 12 men.

Off-season recruit Michael Platt was sent off for fighting – but that only spurred on the Welsh side as they recorded two unanswered tries while playing with one man less.

Tries from Stuart Reardon, Rob Massam and Karl Ashall helped Crusaders on their way to a 18-12 half-time advantage, and further tries after the break from Johnson, Craig Ashall and Adamson cancelled out Dalton Grant’s effort just after half-time.

Reardon went close early on but he couldn’t collect Jamie Dallimore’s grubber kick, which had a bit too much weight on it.

But it was Reardon who gave Crusaders the lead. Jonny Walker hit the line and managed to offload the ball out of the tackle for Reardon to cross in the left corner.

It didn’t take long for the visitors to come up with a response, though, as Dalton Grant collected a misplaced pass from Stephen Wild and raced clear to score.

Crusaders soon regained the lead when, from a neat grubber kick from Jamie Dallimore, Welsh international Rob Massam slid in at the corner.

The home side had possession stacked on their side. They couldn’t make the most of it and Barrow made them pay, as Grant pushed away tackles from Adam Clay and Mark Offerdahl to go over for his second.

Shortly afterwards Crusaders conceded a penalty for interference at the play-the-ball – and Ian Mort slotted over the goal from in front of the posts.

It looked as though the sides would be heading in to the break on levels terms, but Karl Ashall saw a gap in the Barrow defence and scooted over for a try from acting dummy half before the hooter.

Whatever Barrow coach Anthony Murray said to his side at the break, it certainly worked as Grant collected a loose ball to cross for his hat-trick try.

Crusaders were dealt a huge blow on the next set after Grant’s try when Platt was sent off for punching.

However, that had no effect on Crusaders – they simply got stronger after the dismissal. Tommy Johnson managed to squeeze his way over the line from close range a couple of minutes later.

Craig Ashall then went over for a similar try to his brother’s, spotting a gap and darting through to score.

A big defensive effort kept Barrow out for the remainder of the game and a try from Toby Adamson, set up by Andy Moulsdale on the overlap, capped off a great opening victory for Crusaders.